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By now most people have seen Misty Copeland’s video “I Will What I Want,” and it struck a chord with, well, everybody. But why? What did they do so right? And can your company replicate UnderArmour’s success?

The short answer: yes.

Know Your Audience

UnderArmour focused unconditionally on story first. Each second you watched sucked you in to watch the next one, and the next until by the end, you’re so inspired by the story that you want to know who was responsible for this minute of inspiration you just received. Oh, UnderArmour. Cool.

And then it hit me why the video was so brilliant. I honestly wanted to know who made the commercial. And I’m not even their target market.

They understood that their audience, their influencers (young women determined to fight for their sport) would be turned off by blatant branding. So UnderArmour gave them what they wanted – motivation. Adrenaline. A story.

Value Proposition

Of all the things this spot did right, perhaps the most brilliant was how it approached production. They knew they wanted a genuine story, but they also wanted to keep costs down. So what did they do? Pick a relatively unknown but beautiful story and shoot it with one person, in one location. In other words: they did it on the cheap.

Contrast this to Nike’s superbowl ad “Light. Strong. Nike Flyknit,” which used 9 high-profile athletes including Kobe Bryant, and large locations such as a basketball arena, a football stadium, and a track. Oh, and did I mention it was a Nike commercial? Because they dedicated 13 shots to that shoe. In 80 seconds.

Now let’s put this into context: as a consumer, which one inspired you to show it off to your friends? Which one cost (WAY) more? Interesting.

Translating Success

Clearly you don’t need the mega names or mega bucks to tell a great story. In fact, very often those two things can muddle a story quite badly. What you really need, the only thing you need, is a story. And that’s where things get really interesting, because great stories, realstories, are everywhere.

If you want to replicate video content like UnderArmour on a budget, ask your clients for their stories. Ask questions. Gauge how they respond and learn what is emotionally important to them – and eliminate the rest. The tools are there, and it’s up to you to capitalize on it!

Anything you’d like to hear more about? Let me know here or @KarlStelter.

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Karl Stelter is the founder of Karl Stelter Studios, a video production company focused on crafting branded content.